📚 Welcome back to The Reading Life!
Well…my basement flooded and I’m still grieving the loss of (or at least damage to) my copies of Bleak House, Pride and Prejudice, The Autobiography of Henry James, and at least a dozen others, so I hope you can forgive me if I just skip the introduction here and launch into these 10 transformational books!
They’re guaranteed to change your life faster than the insurance company can get someone over here to rip up my floorboards, dry out the entire downstairs, replace the floorboards, and leave me to re-organize my (now-soaked) library!
Now, before our coffees get cold, let’s hit the books!
Tonight, Inside The Reading Life, We’ve Got:
“All of us were stuck to the surface of a ball, incidentally. The planet was ball-shaped. Nobody knew why we didn't fall off, even though everybody pretended to kind of understand it. The really smart people understood that one of the best ways to get rich was to own a part of the surface people had to stick to.”
“You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life.”
Inside my private business mastermind, Creator Launch Academy, we’re tackling one nonfiction book per month and implementing its lessons inside our businesses.
This month’s book is The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy, a great book about the power of compounding and how seemingly insignificant actions can lead to massively positive results over time.
Click here to claim your free trial, and join our business book club for educational content creators!
After achieving my (somewhat meaningless) goal of reading 1,000 books before I turned 30, I set a new (also meaningless but cool) goal of reading 10,000 books. As of today, I’ve read exactly 1,467 books, including 13 books so far this year, and if you’re interested, here’s my full Reading List.
“You aren’t stuck with the body you have. You can make it better, even if you’ve mishandled it, and it’s far simpler than many people believe. Even better, once you start changing your body, you’ll realize that you also have the power to change your life.”
Personal trainers inspire even less trust these days than personal injury lawyers, and people on social media are rightly suspicious of fitness “experts” slinging supplements with less muscle-building power than soy sauce. Which is why when people like Michael Matthews come along, we appreciate them even more. He’s the real deal.
Stronger Than Yesterday is a super-practical daily reader, containing 169 insights for transforming your body, mind, and motivation, and Matthews stands out as someone who actually wants you to succeed and knows exactly how to help you do that.
He has that perfect combination of unconditional support and encouragement, balanced with the recognition that no one goes through life at 100% every single day, and perfection is the dream of people who never got started in the first place.
The book contains simple, evidence-based techniques and tactics for improving your physique, reducing your risk of disease and dysfunction, slowing aging, and more.
Matthews realizes that 100% compliance is probably never going to happen, but he doesn’t let you get away with anything, least of all getting away with doing less than your best.
What you’ll realize is that when you start taking control of what happens inside the gym, you’ll start gaining more control over what happens in your life outside the gym too. You don’t have to be perfect, but you do have to try.
You will likely never reach perfection, but on any given day, you can be stronger than yesterday.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: Gym veterans will still get a lot out of this book, but it’s also beginner-friendly in that Matthews gives you encouraging and supportive science-backed motivation, without talking down to you. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to change, and shows you that it’s actually possible, which is exactly the kind of book that does help you change.
The Four Agreements:
#1: Be Impeccable With Your Word
#2: Don’t Take Anything Personally
#3: Don’t Make Assumptions
#4: Always Do Your Best
It’s easy to hear people raving about this book, then you look at what the Four Agreements actually are, and just think, “Really? That’s it?” And I totally get that.
It’s a reasonable reaction, and though I can’t quite remember, that might have been my first reaction too. Anyway, don’t make assumptions! That’s literally one of the Agreements!
These Agreements are basically just simple rules for living – flexible, pliant rules – and when followed, they just make everything…better.
I know that my own life changed for the better once I made a commitment to doing my absolute best and aiming for excellence in everything I did. Being impeccable with your word (another of the agreements) helps you live with yourself as well. It’s powerful. It's also something that you’ve probably heard a million times.
Well, the reason you’ve heard it a million times is that it’s absolutely amazing advice! I also highly recommend other similar books like The Three Questions, and The Mastery of Self, written by Ruiz’s son.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: Modern life tends toward complexity, but the best, most transformative advice is simple. This book doesn’t feed you some 155-point plan for optimizing your life. Rather, it lays out an uncomplicated philosophy of life that’s stood the test of time.
“Think about it: Most people don’t even show up. Of the people who do, most don’t really push themselves. So to show up and be disciplined about daily improvement? You are the rarest of the rare.”
Self-discipline has traditionally been a hard sell. Self-indulgence, quick dopamine hits, and having a good time have been winning the marketing battle lately, similar to the "battle" between chocolate and asparagus. Or between reality television and educational documentaries.
But what if the problem is simply that we've been thinking about self-discipline in entirely the wrong way?
Up until now, self-discipline may have been the equivalent of a Henry James novel in a TikTok world. But Ryan Holiday's book, Discipline is Destiny, will have you reimagining the whole concept in a much more liberating, fulfilling way.
This involves thinking of self-discipline in the "proper" way: not as a punishment, as self-deprivation, but as it really is: a pathway to even greater freedom.
Some days will be hard. Actually, that's not true...many days will be hard. The hard days will outnumber the easy ones, but the meaningful days will also outnumber the meaningless ones. Living this way won't always be easy, but it will always be worth it.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: So much of personal transformation is really just witnessing the example of inspirational people who have done it. This is especially true with respect to people who have overcome even more challenging circumstances than anything you’ve had to deal with. Through in-depth case studies and motivating stories, this book does exactly that.
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time, but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time - past and future - the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
The Power of Now is one of the most widely-known mindfulness books out there, with who knows how many millions of copies in print. It’s a fantastic book about time, the depth and beauty of human existence, and the possibilities that only exist inside the present moment.
If you're more analytical, or less into 'New Age' stuff, then some of the words Tolle uses may strike you the wrong way, and maybe even turn you off the book, but the gold that is in here is very well worth looking for. Don’t write it off just because of some of the fluffy language or hazy ideas.
I read this book years ago, and I'm still not perfectly mindful every minute of every day, so it definitely could take a long-term transformation for you to live in the moment completely, but it's so totally worth trying.
After all, the present moment is the only moment that exists. The past is gone forever, the future will never exist, and all we will ever have is right now.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: Just like The Four Agreements (above), there’s very little in here that’s difficult to understand or practice. But the present moment really is the only time when you have any power, so every moment you spend mentally inhabiting some other moment is time you’ll never be able to use to free yourself.
“Nothing has transformed my life more than realizing that it’s a waste of time to evaluate my worthiness by weighing the reaction of the people in the stands.”
I have mixed feelings about this book, though I believe that parts of it were excellent, and it serves as a worthwhile correction to the idea that failure is to be avoided at all costs.
It’s about the power of vulnerability and the courage to be seen by others, and even though I lean more to the side of cultivating strength rather than embracing weakness, I felt it was worth reading. I felt like a better person at the end of it.
The title comes from a famous speech by former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
Everything about that passage speaks to what I strongly believe in. Anybody who tries to do anything great is going to be met with criticism and derision from losers. People who will never try to do anything with their lives will try and tell you that you can’t do it either.
Brene Brown would never put it like this, but you know what? Fuck those people. They don’t matter. Keep going anyway.
In the same way that you shouldn’t ask for directions from people who’ve never been where you want to go, don’t bother asking for permission or seeking validation from people who are too scared or lazy to get in the arena themselves.
Again, I’m not completely on board with everything in this book, and to be honest, I hate the word “vulnerability.” But if you find yourself on the sidelines of life, wanting to take a step onto the field but scared of what “they” might say, Daring Greatly might be exactly what you need to help you realize that no one ever lived a great life on the sidelines.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: Almost everything that makes life worth living can be found on the other side of something you’re afraid to do. And once you start treating yourself like a really good friend you’re actually trying to help, your entire life opens up in front of you.
“If we take this journey together, and simply observe as we go along the extraordinary width and depth and beauty of life, then out of this observation may come a love...which is a state of being free of all demand...and we may perhaps be awakened to something far more significant than the boredom and frustration, the emptiness and despair of our daily lives.”
This book was my first introduction to Krishnamurti, and he took me completely by surprise with his total rejection of authority, and his insistence on seeking the truth for oneself, not relying on any external sources of knowledge or truth.
The Revolution from Within is a collection of public talks he gave throughout the world in the 1950s, where he asks, again and again, whether or not the mind can be free of its own projections, and whether the limited human mind can ever perceive the unlimited nature of ultimate truth.
In fact, Krishnamurti speaks mostly in questions. He proceeds very slowly, and uncovers more and more questions in slowly escalating stages, the whole point of which is to provoke independent thought and objectless awareness in the minds of his listeners.
If Jiddu Krishnamurti had a dominant message, it would be that there must be a revolution in our thinking. Not an outward revolution, which is just the continuation of conditioned thought, slightly adapted according to some other philosophy (whatever it may be), but a complete and total rejection of external authority, ideology, and belief.
The whole book is just incredible, covering ideas as diverse as war and global conflict, parenting and relationships, education, spiritual belief, critical thinking, self-awareness, and personal freedom.
After I finished reading the transcript of each lecture - and even while I was reading them - I could feel myself being transformed. I knew that I’d never live the same way again, see the world the same way again, and sure enough, I never did.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: This is one of the most personally transformational books I’ve ever read, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that it gave me nowhere to hide. I had to confront the questions that Krishnamurti was throwing at me, and it helped me see things to which I’d been completely oblivious. It’s my firm belief that this is one of those books that can do the same for you.
“To accomplish something great, you have to give yourself no escape route, no chance to ever turn back. You throw away your backup plans and you push forward, no longer bogged down by the infinite ways in which we hedge our own successes.”
Matt Higgins was a high-school dropout caring for his sick mother in Queens, New York, before burning his own boats and eventually (and I do mean eventually) becoming an investor on Shark Tank, a lecturer at Harvard Business School, and a serial entrepreneur with a billion-dollar portfolio of some of today’s most iconic brands.
He lives an all-in life, and he holds nothing back here. Not his expert advice, not the harsh truths that we all need to hear, not the painful episodes from his own life. Nothing. It’s all here. And for that reason, Burn the Boats doesn’t read like other “success” books out there. There’s something special about this one.
His philosophy is my own, in fact. as I’ve ruthlessly eliminated any and every thought of failure or giving up from my own thoughts and I literally - literally - never even entertain the idea that my largest visions won’t someday become a reality.
It…does…not…even enter my mind.
It’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll be successful - that I’ll get everything I want in this life - and I highly recommend adopting a similar philosophy yourself.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t change directions when the evidence indicates that I should. It doesn’t mean I don’t take advice and seek mentors, differing opinions. Someone like me doesn’t read 1,400+ books because they think they know everything.
I change my methods and adapt to the situation, but I do not give up. I’m all in.
Burn the Boats is such a fantastic book, and I really do hope that you’ll read it. But more importantly, I hope that you launch that business; try out for that sports team; ask out that girl (or guy).
Laser in on the highest vision you can possibly imagine for your one and only life, lock in, gather a team of mentors, shut down the haters, and move fucking forward no matter what. And that boat in the back of your mind? Burn it.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: Burning the boats is definitely the “nuclear” option, and honestly, I wouldn’t recommend it to everybody in all situations. At least not to an extreme extent. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t bring that mindset to bear on your biggest challenges. It’s exceptionally powerful, and I’ll put up my own personal transformation up as evidence for that.
“Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”
This is one of the best books on writing that I've ever read, but it's really more about artistic creation in general, and specifically, the internal obstacles we must overcome if we are to do our work and break through our self-imposed limitations.
The War of Art is a favorite book of artists and creatives everywhere, and I’ve loved it ever since I finished the very first page.
It’s quite short, and compulsively readable, and it’s the book where Steven Pressfield popularized the idea of the Resistance - an invisible, insatiable force that relentlessly besets would-be writers and artists everywhere, using their fear, self-doubt, and perceived inadequacies and limitations to stop them from doing the creative work they were born to do.
The Resistance comes in many forms, of course, but it comes for all of us, and it’s one of the biggest causes of unrealized potential and unlived life anywhere.
The War of Art will show you how to defeat it every single day (until it comes back again the next day, for as long as you live), and if you’ve ever wanted to create anything that didn’t exist except in your imagination, or felt that you are something, could do something, or might become something, this is the book that will help you make it real.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: This book isn’t just for writers. It’ll help anyone break through the “Resistance” and bring out their best work. The work of their life. That thing you must do, that only you can do, and that will remain undone if you don’t do it. We all face the Resistance, daily, and this book will show you how to defeat it.
“But I’ll promise you this: I have not known a single person who gave time to being aware who didn’t see a difference in a matter of weeks. The quality of their life changes, so they don’t have to take it on faith anymore. They see it; they’re different. They react differently. In fact, they react less and act more. You see things you’ve never seen before."
What does it feel like to imagine oneself as intimately connected with Reality - with everything that exists - and to live with your eyes, and your heart, wide open?
Anthony de Mello points the way to an understanding - and awareness - of what such a fully realized life feels like, and just like life, this book is full of surprises. Awareness began as a series of lectures that were later combined into a book, so it helps to imagine him speaking to an audience while you read it, and that you are in that audience.
De Mello was a Jesuit priest and spiritual teacher and he uses stories, parables, jokes, and striking insights - which he combines with his deep humanity and infinite care and affection - to wake people up to the life that's been sitting right in front of them the whole time they've been alive.
De Mello's whole "project" is to get you to see Reality in a completely different way - the way you would if the "doors of perception" were cleansed. Mainstream psychology and what passes for religion these days don't really solve your problems; they just exchange your problems for other problems.
Waking up to Reality and Life itself isn't "supposed" to be comfortable either. Nobody likes being woken up! But Reality is so much more miraculous and incredible than most of us ever glimpse on a daily basis, and waking up is very much like breaking out of prison.
We're imprisoned in our concepts, our ideas, our blind beliefs, and prejudices, but to break out of this prison and actually experience life, the first step is to realize that you are in prison and that there is a way out. Anthony de Mello shows us all the way out in this book.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: This book will not only transform you, it’ll do so instantly. It doesn’t happen “in time,” it happens now. It’ll show you that the transformation you’re looking for is (mostly) a transformation in consciousness, and that it’s always available to you…now.
“The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep?
If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win - you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail.
Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”
This is a book written by two U.S. Navy SEALs about how to take complete responsibility for your life, take command of any situation, and lead your team to victory.
Not only are both authors former Navy SEALs, but they also led the most highly decorated special forces unit of the Iraq War. So these aren’t just a couple of corporate middle managers with some cute ideas about leadership - they’re the real deal.
Throughout the book, you’ve got lessons on self-discipline, mental toughness, and leading high performance teams, mixed in with first-hand accounts of how they personally learned them within the harshest, most unforgiving environments imaginable.
Extreme Ownership is for people who have to win, for whom second place may as well be last, and who have entire groups of people depending on them to succeed.
The authors set a dizzyingly high standard; one that the vast majority of people wouldn’t even have sufficient interest in living up to. But the people who are willing to take extreme ownership of their life and work, who are willing to step up as a leader - giving the credit for success to others and taking the blame for failure upon themselves - are exactly who this book is for.
Difficulty Rating: Easy
Why It’ll Help You Transform: Taking complete responsibility for everything is one of the boldest, most powerful, and most transformative moves a person can make. It truly is a life-altering act, with wonderfully positive consequences for your character, your reputation, and really your entire life.
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OK, that’s it for now…
I’ve got plenty more excellent book recommendations coming your way soon though!
There’s also my YouTube channel, where I publish book reviews, reading updates, and more each week.
And if you want to learn how I’ve built an audience of 180,000+ followers across social media, became a full-time creator, and how I’m rapidly growing my audience and scaling my profits in 2025, join us inside Creator Launch Academy and that’s exactly what I’ll teach you — we’d love to have you in the community!
With that said, I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Reading Life, and enjoy the rest of your day!
Until next time…happy reading!
All the best,
Matt Karamazov
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